Náchod Castle is a state monument in Náchod that developed from a castle founded in the middle of the 13th century and is administered by the National Heritage Institute.
Náchod Castle stands in Náchod in the Hradec Králové Region and grew up on the site of a medieval fortress. Today it is a protected monument administered by the National Heritage Institute.[3]
The medieval castle
The first mention of the Náchod area dates from the middle of the 11th century, when Prince Vratislaus II, during a campaign into Silesia in 1068, held the election of the Bishop of Prague at nearby Dobenín. In the 11th and 12th centuries there was probably a guard settlement near the land gate called Branka, on the site of today's Old Town.[1] The castle, and probably the town as well, was founded in the middle of the 13th century by Hron of the Načeratice family. The castle stood on a land trade route near the border between Bohemia and the Kłodzko region, and therefore had great strategic importance.[1]
Hron's descendants held Náchod until 1321, when it was acquired by King John of Luxembourg; from him it passed in 1325 to Hynek of Dubá. The lords of Dubá held the estate until 1367. In 1414 Náchod was acquired by Boček of Kunštát and Poděbrady, and in 1427 the future king George of Poděbrady inherited the estate from his father Viktorín.[1] During the Hussite Wars the castle was held by the Hussites, and its garrison repelled attacks from Catholic Silesia. In 1437 Jan Kolda of Žampach captured the castle and town. George of Poděbrady entered into possession of the inheritance in 1456, when he took the castle.[1]
The Smiřický and Trčka families
Zikmund Smiřický of Smiřice bought Náchod in 1544, and the estate remained in the family's hands until 1620. In the second half of the 16th century the Smiřický family were among the wealthiest families in Bohemia, and their rule was associated with extensive building activity. The property was confiscated in the confiscations that followed the Battle of White Mountain, because of the family's participation in the Estates' uprising.[2] The last male member of the family, Albrecht Jan, inherited the estate in 1614, took part in the Defenestration of Prague in 1618 and was one of the thirty directors; he died in November 1618. The estate was acquired by his sister Markéta Salomena.[2] Frederick of the Palatinate, known as the Winter King, spent a night at the castle while fleeing the country after the Battle of White Mountain.[2] Among the 27 Czech leaders executed on Old Town Square on 21 June 1621 was the Náchod burgher Tobiáš Štefek of Koloděje, a member of the Estates' directorate and regent of the Smiřický estate.[2]
In 1623 the estate was bought by Magdalena Trčková of Lípa, who a few years later handed it over to her son Adam Erdman Trčka, the last owner from the Bohemian nobility. His brother-in-law was the commander of the imperial armies Albrecht of Wallenstein, who according to the source was possibly born at Náchod Castle in 1583. Adam stood by his relative until his death on 25 February 1634, when he was murdered together with him in Cheb.[2]
After 1945
After the Second World War the castle was confiscated from the princely Schaumburg-Lippe family and became state property. The National Cultural Commission took it over on 23 September 1948. The first post-war castellan was Jan Slezák. The castle was reopened to visitors at the end of the 1940s, although tours had already taken place under the Schaumburg-Lippes.[3] The complex has been a protected monument since 1958.[3]
From the 1960s preparations were under way for a complete restoration. An exemplary heritage restoration began in the 1970s, when the castle was closed. Doors, windows and fences were replaced and new sgraffito façades were created. The castle was made accessible to visitors in 1977, and the exhibition presented the era of the Piccolomini family and Baroque art. The restoration of the complex was not completed and stopped at the entrance buildings, the clerks' wing and the turion.[3] After 1989 the Schaumburg-Lippe family claimed restitution of the castles in Náchod and Ratibořice, without success. In the 1990s the castle was administered by the Heritage Institute in Pardubice, and since 2003 it has been administered by the National Heritage Institute, regional office in Pardubice.[3]